Ari turned as he took off his shirt and she saw his muscled torso riddled with cuts and abrasions from fighting. [color=fff200]"Malik, how did these happen? Some of these gashes are pretty deep. They need to be cleaned and bandaged. The bruising by your neck is really bad. What happened?"[/color]

She was beginning to wonder how he had survived these last weeks. It appeared it hadn't been easy for him. She really had lucked out finding this place. [color=fff200]"I saw a first aid kit up in the bathroom. There are a few of these you shouldn't get soap into. Come on, I'll clean them up for you."[/color] She headed toward the stairs and didn't pay attention to if he followed her or not. She could feel his eyes on her going up the stairs so she figured he was there. She pulled open the closet and pulled out a first aid kit and a wash cloth. She rummaged for the Hydrogen peroxide in the closet. [color=fff200]"Okay, this might sting a bit."[/color] She winced as the burning made him jump a little. [color=fff200]"Sorry"[/color] She mumbled. Ari cleaned the wounds on his back and the two that were larger and deeper she cut some butterflies out of the medical tape and closed them. 

[color=fff200]"There, all set."[/color] She smiled, happy with her handiwork. [color=fff200]"Any bad ones on the front?"[/color] She looked. She was really concerned. She didn't think he should take chances like infections when nether of them could do anything about it. Who knew what the medical world looked like now. He had one that was worse than the others but it was higher up on the side so it would have been difficult to reach on his own. She made sure to keep her mind on the task at hand. [color=fff200]"Now that one would be a real bitch to get at on your own."[/color] After butterflying it shut she washed her hands and declared him all done. 

Ari smiled and walked out of the room and into the master bedroom where she was obviously spending lot of time. She rummaged through her bag and finally dumped it all onto her bed. She fumbled through it all til she found what she was looking for. It was one of those wallet picture holders. She opened it and looked sad as she flipped through the photos. Ari had grown up with two brothers and a sister. The four had all been born one after the other so they were all really close and she missed them terribly. Her parents had been taken in a car accident just after her 19th birthday five years ago. Bandaging Malik's wounds reminded her of her brother Alex. He was constantly getting into fights when they had been in high school. He never knew when to shut up and he always said the wrong things.

Ari just lay on her bed looking at her family and wishing they were there. Alex had been her protector. Now she was alone and didn't know what she was supposed to do without them. She shoved everything else into her bag and pulled her feet up on the bed and turned herself inwards so she was facing the inner part of the room. She closed her eyes and fell asleep with the photo holder in her hand.

[@king tai]